Audio issues

[nightowl66]

I have a old Panasonic plasma tv model TH-50PZ77U with a Yamaha sound bar model ATS-1010 out in my shop. The sound bar is connected to the TV with a optical cable. I started noticing sound cutting out on Sun night football. Every time they would show a replay with graphics, the sound would cut out for the first couple seconds while the Dolby light flickered on the sound bar. Same at the beginning of commercials with graphics. Then it is OK the rest of the time until another replay. I tried different settings and optical cable with no luck. I brought another TV out and hooked it up and the sound is fine. So the problem is the TV. Audio over TV speakers work OK without sound cutting out.
Any ideas?

 

[harshness]

So the problem is the TV.

Have you tried hooking up the sound bar via RCA cabling?

I reason that this might end run the need to shift in and out of surround sound mode.

 

[nightowl66]

Have you tried hooking up the sound bar via RCA cabling?

I reason that this might end run the need to shift in and out of surround sound mode.

The only input on the sound bar is optical, no rca jacks.

 

[harshness]

If you can't solve the TV's problems by doing a factory reset, I can't imagine how you're going to otherwise repair the TV's Dolby handling. Finding repair parts for a 13 year old model is unlikely and finding someone who repairs TV may be just as hard.

Since there isn't a menu option to select full-time PCM rather than Dolby Digital, you're stuck with respect to your current sound bar. The TV's automatic switching feature obviously isn't working consistently. From page 53 of the manual:

If digital sound connection has a problem, select analog sound connection.

There's your sign.

Sound bars of every kind are pretty expensive so maybe you've got an old boom box laying around? It is imperative to use the RCA outputs as those don't involve Dolby 5.1 (just as the TV's speakers don't).